Felicity Huffman has admitted that she landed her Desperate Housewives role, because she "looked like s**t".

The actress recalled how she had attended an audition to play working mother Lynette Scavo in the hit American drama. Speaking at the 2011 Summer TCA Tour, Huffman said that she had been dealing with her two small children on the day she was meant to meet creator Marc Cherry.

"You know, two small kids, and - as I've said before - motherhood does not come naturally to me," Huffman explained. "So I pulled myself together, and I blowdried my hair, and I put on nice clothes, and I looked great. I drove there in the rain.

"I sat there. They said, 'Come in and read'. I came in and read. I got the part. I was very excited. It was only later when I talked to Marc Cherry and I said, 'How did you know?'.

She continued: "He said, 'Oh, it was great because, when you came in, you were such a mess. You had, like, food stains on you, and your hair was awful, and you looked like s**t. And that's how we knew'."